1,000-Year Legacy

Accessibility lifts are designed to be unobtrusive in historic cathedral that served as a backdrop in Harry Potter movies.

Gloucester Cathedral, a magnificent architectural icon dating back to 1089, took more than 500 years to complete, and is an excellent example of an English cathedral built in the Romanesque and Gothic styles. The cathedral, sitting in the west of England near the border with Wales, has undergone many changes in its nearly 1,000-year history and has unique features that might be described as incredible: a stained-glass window with some of the earliest known images of golf (dating back to 1350) and a carving believed to depict medieval soccer. Many dignitaries have shrines here, including King Edward II of England and Osric, King of the Hwicce. More recently, the cathedral was used as the location of Hogwarts for three Harry Potter movies, and the cathedral welcomes many visitors who want to walk in Harry’s own wizarding footsteps. The entire building truly is magical in many ways.

As part of a major refurbishment and conservation program, a new creative direction for the cathedral’s disability access was agreed upon. It called for a bold approach that would be honest to the building’s stunning architecture and reflect the centuries of innovative design seen in every vista. The plan called for two platform lifts that would enhance the built environment in brave and contemporary ways.

Bespoke platform lift designer and manufacturer Lyfthaus of Cambridge, U.K., was contracted as the supplier for the new platform lift. Lyfthaus specializes in tailor-made open- aspect lifts for the prestige marketplace, in particular for listed properties and properties of historic importance. Lyfthaus was presented with the client’s outline design sketches and tasked with meeting the architects’ creative vision. One lift with a raised height of 750 mm was to be located adjacent to stone steps in the north ambulatory, with the second to access the north transept via a Lyfthaus-built bridging link and having 1,050 mm of lift travel.

To remain faithful to the original architecture, the scissor-lift platforms were set inside enclosures constructed of stainless steel and frameless glass, discreet cube designs that wouldn’t distract from their surroundings but would fully protect the platforms for the entirety of their travel. Each of the largest glass side panels weighed in excess of 200 kg (440 lb.) and had to be transported through the cathedral by hand — quite a delicate process.

Lyfthaus, as designer and manufacturer of the two lifts, worked in close cooperation with the builders and heritage specialists to preserve the abundance of archaeological finds uncovered during the pit excavation and four-month installation period. In the words of the project manager, “The time and effort [were] certainly worthwhile, [and] we are thrilled with the results.”

Lift One, Mylyft Cube Model TCL2000

• 170-mm lowered height, including tray to accommodate stone floor
• 750-mm raised height
• 1,450 mm-x-1,100 mm platform size
• Polished safety glass and stainless-steel enclosure
• 500-kg operating capacity (2000-kg actual capacity)
• Twin-cylinder hydraulic scissor mechanism in plate steel
• Three sets of push-to-run controls with halo illumination
• Remote power pack located in basement crypt

Lift Two, Mylyft Cube Model TM1500

• 280-mm lowered height, including tray to accommodate stone floor
• 1,050-mm raised height
• 1,850-mm-X-1,200-mm platform size
• Bridging link with glass balustrade
• Polished safety glass and stainless-steel enclosure
• Reflective scissor guards in stainless-steel chainmail
• 500-kg operating capacity (1500-kg actual capacity)
• Twin-cylinder hydraulic mechanism in box-section steel profile
• Three sets of push-to-run controls with halo illumination
• Remote power pack located in basement crypt